Bonjour.
The subject of this post may very well be past the expiration date in regards to pop culture relativity but I still find myself fascinated by it. One of those secret things I would gush over during a happy hour and monopolize conversations and warrant a smiling shake of your head. As a result I sit here typing this in the hopes you might be as amused by the idea as me. Although now that I think about it, if you knew, you'd already have known, and then there's causality and preternatural....you know what? I'm just gonna cut right to the meat of my zeal here.
Many, many, many nerds on the internet (and music snobs, and hipsters, et cetera) have generally agreed that one of, if not the best, albums of the 90's was Radiohead's opus OK Computer. Personally, I do agree that it is a fantastic piece of guitar driven popmusic, albeit a bit gloomy. BUT! That very same gloom appeals to me. I have become aware that I appreaciate the album more on days of melancholy, or during time spent reflecting (as opposed to road trips or when I'm cleaning my condo). There's a joy in melancholy, a peace through sadness that I know I have felt before and it rears its head when I listen to the album on a crisp fall day.
Ten years later, digital distribution has finally become the norm and CD sales in the traditional, literal sense have fallen off. Thom Yorke, frontman extraordinaire has gone increasingly schizo and detests his own reputaiton for alternative music, going so far as to release the (denied to be but still totally is) double album Kid A/Amnesiac. Hail to the Thief, the next album, saw a return, ever so slightly, to their renowned milleu. Going off the deep end into electric noises and distorted, atonal jazz pieces had anyone still listening (millions of people) wondering what they would do next.
The answer was the pay what you want In Rainbows, which when held in the same light as their previous work, was still genius but more traditional. An absolutely beautiful album, but no huge genre shift or breakage of pre-established paradigms. Critically hailed, embraced by all, why are you typing this, you ask? If I'm no music critic, why the inspection and rehashing?
Paranoia, that's why.
A conspiracy of sorts!
If you know me at all (my condolences), you may know I'm just a little bit into the idea.
Covered in another blog by Puddlegum a couple years back, the basic idea put forth is that In Rainbows is not just another album in their discography but in fact an expansion of OK Computer, an insertion of table leaves, if you will. Insane premise or not, I LOVE this idea.
The concept apparently originates in a bit of numerology and binary, that OK Computer serves as the 01 and In Rainbows as 10, the two pieces complimenting each other. Fun supporting evidence: a working title for OK Computer was Zeros and Ones. The track list starts with Computer's 'Airbag' (which has a deeply moving opening riff that feels like the guitar channeling a cello) alternates from there on out with Rainbows going back and forth, switching in the middle, and then the reverse back and forth for the latter half of both albums. Made as a playlist in iTunes with the cross-fade set to about five seconds, the effect is rather unnerving. Some segues don't work as well, but there are a few transitions that one would think "Oh my lord, this could have been intentional." In particular the transition from 'Bodysnatchers' to 'Subterranean Homesick Alien' is eerie, mostly due to (most likely coincidental) corresponding key signatures.
Just the idea that musicians would be so inclined (or perhaps bored is more on target) to create art that is supposed to be inserted into existing works is absolutely enthralling to me. Even more so that it would be a weirdly hush-hush thing, not widely known and only found by people extremely curious about it. In my mind it's like if in American Gothic we suddenly realize there is an entire painting of the interior of the house in the background that is hidden under the frame.
While definitely one of the nerdier/paranoid things I've fallen in love with, it's just something that I find enthralling as a concept. One I wish more artists would embrace. Maybe I'll hide a secret blog inside this one, and inside that blog would be a link to my psychiatrist's home page, because that's where my neurosis would lead to, right?
